April 26 Editorial
| April 26 Editorial | |||||||
| Chinese | 四·二六社论 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hanyu Pinyin | Sì'èrliù Shèlùn | ||||||
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| Official name | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 必須旗幟鮮明地反對動亂 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 必须旗帜鲜明地反对动乱 | ||||||
| Hanyu Pinyin | Bìxǖ Qízhì Xiānmíngde Fǎndùi Dòngluàn | ||||||
| Literal meaning | We Must Take a Clear-cut Stand against Disturbances | ||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Sì'èrliù Shèlùn |
| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Bìxǖ Qízhì Xiānmíngde Fǎndùi Dòngluàn |
The April 26 Editorial was a front-page article published in People's Daily on April 26, 1989, during the Tiananmen Square protests. The editorial effectively defined the student movement as a destabilizing anti-party revolt that should be resolutely opposed at all levels of society. As the first authoritative document from the top leadership on the growing movement, it was widely interpreted as having communicated the party's position of "no-tolerance" to student protesters and their sympathizers.
The contents of the editorial were derived from a Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) meeting at the residence of Deng Xiaoping on the morning of April 25. During the meeting, the PSC came to the general agreement that the students aimed to overthrow Communist rule and were being heavily influenced by similar anti-Communist movements in Eastern Europe. As such, it threatened the survival of the existing senior leadership, the Communist Party, and the political system itself. Deputy chief of propaganda Zeng Jianhui wrote the draft, while Hu Qili and Li Peng served as editors. On the evening of April 25, the finished editorial could be heard on national radio and television news stations.
The editorial enraged the student protesters, widened the chasm between the students and the party leadership, and emerged as a sore point of contention for the rest of the movement. Students protested in large numbers on April 27, and thereafter continuously asked for the editorial to be retracted. Within the party leadership, Zhao Ziyang advocated for the editorial to be "toned down" or rescinded, but faced significant opposition and was unsuccessful.
Titled "We Must Take a Clear-cut Stand against Disturbances", the editorial begins by addressing the entire population of China, acknowledging their diverse expressions of grief. Specifically referencing the need to "turn grief into strength", the editorial suggests that the poignancy of Hu's death reaffirms the significance of upholding the four modernizations. Carried out by "an extremely small number of people", subversive responses, which the editorial describes as mostly verbal denunciations of the CPC, are an example of "abnormal phenomena" to be dealt with swiftly.
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